When Is a Standard Tank Water Heater a Better Option Than Tankless?

When you need a new water heater, you want to choose the option that’s best for your home. There’s a lot of talk about the efficiency of tankless water heaters, but are these always the right choice? Despite the high efficiency of tankless systems, standard storage tank water heaters remain the most popular units found in homes today. This is because every home has different needs, and efficiency is not the highest concern for every homeowner.

Storage tank water heaters are sometimes critiqued for their energy usage. Water is stored in a 20 to 80 gallon tank and heated by a gas burner or electric heating element, so that hot water is available for use at any time. This means you are paying to heat water that may not be used for quite some time. Tankless water heaters are a solution to this problem, as they only heat water on demand. As soon as a hot water tap is turned on, water flows past a heating element that heats it immediately. As soon as the tap is turned off, the unit shuts down.

While tankless units are more efficient than storage tank heaters, they are considerably more costly. A tankless water heater will save you money every month, but it will take years to offset the initial cost. And sometimes, the cost of installation is just a more important factor. Tankless water heaters also run into problems when multiple people need hot water at a time, so you may even need to install 2 or 3 tankless units.

Another reason to install a storage tank water heater is if you haven’t had problems in the past. Are you replacing an older storage tank system? If your previous unit worked well, you probably won’t run into many problems with a new one either. Sometimes, storage tank water heaters have a problem heating water as quickly as it refills. But if this has never been much of a problem for you before, it probably won’t be with your newer system. And, many manufacturers offer systems with greater recovery rates as an alternative to their standard systems.